Sociology > Sociology of Religion
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This article investigates the extent to which health professionals are equipped to support vegan mothers in the UK and how stigma plays a part in this issue. Veganism has grown in popularity in the UK in recent years (as well as in many other countries worldwide) with the environmental, health and animal welfare benefits of the lifestyle becoming more widely researched and publicised. However, research into the topic of veganism has highlighted that, up until recently, many vegans experienced stigma for their beliefs, with the UK being no exception. Similarly, a growing body of research has highlighted the long-accepted and gendered issue of mum-shaming, whereby mothers, as opposed to fathers, are disproportionately criticised and blamed for their parenting skills. In this article we want to examine the experience of women who fit into both categories of veganism and motherhood in their encounters with health professionals during pregnancy and while raising their babies on a vegan diet.
Adopting semi-structured interviews, this study gauged the opinions of a sample of vegan mothers, non-vegan mothers, midwives and paediatricians. Our findings indicate that in the UK, healthcare professionals are not equipped to provide vegan mothers with nutritional advice. This was found to be due to a lack of understanding of veganism, which, in some cases, fuelled negative ideas on veganism and led to stigma towards vegan pregnant women and vegan mothers. All healthcare professionals interviewed stressed the severe lack of training on vegan nutrition, as well as nutrition more generally.
Research demonstrates that disabled people, across different functional impairments, face social exclusion within the workplace. However, there remains a lack of understanding regarding the mechanisms and reasons behind these exclusionary processes. Drawing insights from the sociology of emotions and microsociology, I examine interactional attempts to include hard-of-hearing employees in conversations through the lens of sympathy. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two workplaces and 29 interviews with hard-of-hearing employees from 19 different workplaces, as well as with colleagues and managers without hearing loss, I find that demonstrating sympathy carries costs such as restrained emotional buildup, emotional exhaustion and efforts to manage emotions. The analysis suggests that the lack of social inclusiveness cannot be attributed solely to stigmatisation and a lack of knowledge about disabilities among workplace colleagues. It also stems from the unwillingness of colleagues to actively engage in the interactional challenges associated with displaying sympathy due to failed interaction rituals. These results underscore the significance of companies fostering environments that facilitate strong interaction rituals for employees with diverse functional impairments and suggest structural changes at the company level to avoid reliance on individual employees to achieve workplace inclusion.
To highlight critical perspectives on the Circular Economy (CE) this conversation with Manisha Anantharaman and Sonia Dias considers often-overlooked Global South perspectives on everyday dynamics of circular transformation. In this conversation, we, Mary and Kersty, chat with Manisha (Sciences Po), a scholar in critical approaches to sustainability and circularity, and Sonia, a sociologist who works for WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), about key issues and debates concerning circular change that emerge from their work in India and Latin America.
Our conversation spans the broader political and economic contexts of the CE and the necessity of situating everyday circular practices within this framework of unequal access. Beginning with an exploration of the ‘circularity divide’ (Barrie et al, 2022), in which CE initiatives can deepen inequalities if not carefully approached, we discuss the crucial role of informal workers in the Global South and the importance of inclusive, context-specific approaches to circularity.
We then explore the differences and similarities in consumption dynamics across settings; the role of the household as a critical scale of analysis; and the diverse domestic experiences within these settings. Finally, we discuss the significance of DIY infrastructures and the informal economy in creating and sustaining the systems of provision essential for enacting circularity, as well as the role of scholarship in supporting political action for inclusive circular change.
Parental determinism is a term coined by sociologist Frank Furedi to describe and critique an argument directly associating parents’ quotidian behaviour with their children’s outcomes and therefore, the future of society. This study involved qualitative interviews with 22 mothers living in Scotland to examine their views about the ideals of parental determinism and suggest possible factors explaining the varying endorsement. Of the mothers who more highly endorsed parental determinism, several reported poor experiences of being parented themselves. All the mothers of autistic children expressed some critique of the idea that parental action is solely responsible for children’s outcomes. The former variance may be due to perceived links between their own childhood experiences and later mental health issues, and the latter due to their children not responding to parental action as expected. These factors may highlight and minimise the perceived importance, to the mothers, of parenting behaviours.
In 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, resulting in one of the largest refugee crises in Europe. Switzerland took in around 60,000 Ukrainian refugees, many of whom were children. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Ukrainian refugee children (aged 8–14) who participated in the WoKidS (Children’s Well-being in German-Speaking Switzerland) project, we reconstruct the importance of family for their subjective well-being by addressing three interrelated aspects: home, objects and relationships. We argue that, despite experiencing adverse situations, refugee children are active participants in the processes of homemaking and the promotion of family co-presence and care across borders. Furthermore, the children’s perspectives expand our understanding of (transnational) families and (transnational) care, showing that well-being is relational and challenging the notion of family as ‘left behind’.
This is the story of a young girl who grew up in Moldova with parents working abroad, and is complementary to the scholarly articles discussing children’s situations in this special issue. Her story is invaluable at a time when children’s participation – really listening to their voices – is increasingly in demand in the social sciences. Reading this story, we understand the ‘vulnerability’ of the children in this special issue, but we are especially struck by the ‘agency’ they show.
For many years, thousands of children in Moldova had to stay behind while their parents migrated abroad for a better income. This article reflects on the impact of parental migration on young adults’ future aspirations and prospects. The research presented here is based on grounded theory research that includes interviews with former stay-behind children. The children’s plans for their future are not only shaped by the difficult conditions prevailing in the Moldovan labour market. In addition, they are influenced by their parents’ experience of strongly regulated migration and their hope to give their children a better life. Due to their parents’ support and their own educational performance, these young adults find easier conditions for migration and are able to shape their prospective family life in a way that avoids leaving their children behind.